Vulnerable elderly tenant

[tallisgood12]

Hi my mother is 84 years old and living in a rural bungalow for a few months as a tenant with a relative. It was requested of the property agent to contact Digital Voice to delay the switch over at the property. The owner lives abroad and the agent lost a close relative recently, so the request didn't get made. My mother can't use the new system. Can the Digital Voice be reviewed at this property given all parties had agreed to this course but events meant the request was not made in a timely fashion? My mother is struggling with her healthy and a landline is a lifeline. 

[licquorice]

Simply unplug the phone from the current socket and plug it into the green socket at the rear of the hub. That is all that is required.

[tallisgood12]

Hi Liquorice thanks for your reply. To be clear, she just wants to have the old analogue landline back, as they're in an area prone to power cuts and no near neighbours. My understanding is the digital voice service doesn't work if there is a power cut. 

[licquorice]

Unfortunately, that is not going to happen, once transferred there is no going back.

[Manatarms84]

While there is no going back to the old system, I understand the concern around power cuts.  You can get a battery back up unit fitted to help with that side of things for peace of mind.  As they are vulnerable this should be free as well.  I would contact BT with your concerns and they will be able to sort it

[Peter_W]

Good morning @tallisgood12.

Thanks for reaching out to us about this. 

Like @licquorice and @Manatarms84 have mentioned here, it's not possible for us to return customers to the analogue phone service, but I definitely want to look at where we're at with this and make sure we've done all we can. 

Just to be sure, is the digital voice service set up and active? 

If it is, has your mother tried to give this a go by connecting it to the green port at the back of the Hub?

Also do you know if it's your mother that's the named account holder, or is it the property owner?

Peter

[Noblelord]

I have to say my 85 year old in laws were bereft when their copper line of 42 years was terminated summarily. I had to intervene and spend hours elevating to CEO level of BT.

Customer service in BT and Openreach is lamentably poor.

[licquorice]

The changeover to Digital Voice has been known about for a few years now, there have been full page adverts in the national press recently as well 

The changeover is simple, move the phone from one socket to another, there is no need for your folks to be bereft.

I have had my number for well over 50 years and still have it after the transfer to DV about a couple of years ago.

[tallisgood12]

Hi 

Thank you for all the replies. Just to clarify the copper connection has gone and nothing has been put in place. There was no correspondence or phone call to the property to say this would happen.

My sister has travelled miles to find a working public phone box to ask me to escalate this situation to a BT customer manager. She is desperate for someone to listen.

The landlord was asked weeks ago to contact BT to ask for a pause of 8-10 weeks on the Digital Voice installation. He has made several attempts I understand from his agent to contact BT to put this request since the end of May.

I know of at least one success story to delay the implementation to allow older people to make the necessary adjustments in their lives.

Everything about this situation shows poor communication and lack of duty of care to older customers, particularly those in rental properties. 

So, if someone could get in touch as a matter of urgency as my mother has been without a phone line for more than a week. 

[garybs29]

@tallisgood12 It's absolutely impossible for it to be changed with no correspondence to be sent, it may have been sent to email or missed etc or in this situation if it's the landlords account sent to them (in which case it's the landlords fault & not BT's) but 100% it won't have been changed with nothing being sent